Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-02-11
fondness for the house of God and even
her kneelipg prayer by the bedside a de-

[ usy let you dlOue, UuL Stl HRU Will i've
cody in Christ Jesus must suffer perse-
cution. Be theater-going, csrd-playing,
wine-drlnking, round-dshcing Christian,
and you may escape criticism and social
pressure. But be an up and down, out
and out follower of Christ, and sEorldling
will wink to wording as he spsaks zyour
name, and you Will be pat in many deg:
gerel and snubbed by those not
worthy to blscken your olde.t shoes
| When the bridge at Ashtabula broke
and let down the most of the carload OF
! passengers to instant death. Mr.. z. 2.
Bliss WAS seated on one side of the aisle
of the car writing down Christian song
which he was composing, and on the
| otoer side q group of men were PLAYING
cards. Whose lauding-place in eternity
would you prefer-that of P P. Bliss, the
! gospel singer, or of the card PLAYERS? s.
| A great complain comes from the
| thaateTs about the lsGies' high hats be
| cause they obstruCt the view Of the stage,
ard lady reporter asked me the otaer
! day what | thought about 1t, and I told
/ her that if the indecent pictures of ac-
| tr-sses in the show WintC ays of BROOKLYN
AID New York were accurste pictures of
| what goes on in mauy OF the tbeate7s
night by Dight, then 1t would be well if
| the ladies' mats were s mile hi4h go as to
completely ohstruct the vision. If pre-
! tessed Christians 20 to such pisces dur
ing the week, no one will ever persecute
them for their religion, for they have
none, and they are the joke of hell. But
| let Them live q cOnSeCTaIed and Christian
life and they will soon run against sheer
| ing opposition. For compromise
| Christian character an easy time now, but
| for consecratsd behavior, grim4ce and
caricature. For the body, thanks to the
God Of free America, there are now no
swords or fiery stakes, but for the souls
| OF thousands of the good, in g tigurdtive
sense, rack and gibbet aud Torquemada
The symbol Of the domestic and social
AID private and public suffering of a
great multitude OF Gods dear children,
pillars of smoke.
What an exciting scene in India when
during the Sepoy rebellion a regiment of
Highlanders came up and found tn dead
body OF one of General Wheeier'e daugh-
ters, who had been insuIted and
So great was the wrath against these
murderers that the Scotch regiment
sat down and cutting off the hair O:
uGeIHT,
they divided il among them, ana each one
counted the number of the hairs given
hin, and each took an oath, which was
executed, that for each hair of the muir
dered daughter they would dash out the
life Of miserable Sspoy. But as wc
look over The story Cf those who in all
ages have suffered Tor the truth, while we
leave vengeance to the Lord, let Us band
together il one solemn vow, one ire
mendous oath, after having cOurted the
host o. the martyrs, that for each enc cf
those glorious men a@ women who died
for the ruth, an immortal soul shall live,
liveswith fsaa. and I've forever. AZ
But rs l GifsaGy limited in the first Sen
ance-o5 this serFfiep, nothing canbe more
beautiful than the nsures of smoke on q i
clear sky. You can see what yoasWill iu4
the contour OF this volatile vdpofs ppsF
enchanted castles, now troops of horse |
men, now hammered procession, now |
winged cOuriers, now black angel of |
wratn under a spear Of the sunshine |
turned to an angel of light, and now from |
horizon to horizon the air is picture
gallery filled with masterpieces of which !
God is the artist, morning clouds of |
smoke born in the sunrise, and evening
clouds OF smoke laid in the FURNISHED
sepulchers OF the sunset.
The beauty OF the TRANSPORTED smoke
is divine symbol of the beauty of the
Church. The fairest of all the fair is she.
Do not call those prosecutors of whom |
spoke, the church. They are the para
sites of the church, not the church itself
Her mission is to cover the earth with q
supernatural gladness, to open all the
prison doors, to balsam all the Wouads, to
moss all the graves, 10 burn up the night
in the fireplace of a great morning, to
change iron handouts into diamonded
to turn the whole race around,
and whereas it faced death, commanding ,
i, right about face for heaven" Ac-
;Ording to the number OF the spires {
Of the churches in all our cities, towns :
md neighborhOods, are the good homes,
he worldly properties and the pure I
morals and the happy souls.
Meet me- at any depot the world over {
Ind with my eyes closed take me by the
land and lead ne so that my feet will not 6
stumble, and without my once looking d
Town or looking on the level, take me to {
ome high roof or tower and let me see !
ne tops Of the churches and | will tell
'ou the proportion of suic ldes, of arsons, t
# murders, of thcfts. According as the /
churches are numerous are the crimes +
ew. According as the churches are few I
he crimes are numerous. The most /
beautiful organization the world ever saw {
II ever will see is the much malgned Y
'hurch, the friend of all good, the foe of !
ii evil, "fair as the moon and clear as C
he sun" Beautiful in her author, beau b
iful IN her mission, the heroine of the i
enturles, he bri3e of Christ, the queen L
t the nations. There are hundreds of c
indy institutions, some caring for in Y
briates, some for the crippled, some for @
he imbeCile, some for the misled some FOR Il
be blind, but the church is the mother of t
II these kindly institutions. There are g
sylums, American, or English, or Scotch, v
r Irish, or French, or German, or Ital- o
IN, but the church spreads her mantle s
yer all these, and will yet spread it over C
Il nations. Her gates are beautiful, her VI
ongs are beautiful, her prayers are beau G.
full, her convocations are beautiful, her u
1rk is beautiful. All kings and warriors .
Ill yet bow down at her affairs, all chains d
serfdom be shattered against her door n
-ep, all nations will yet follow her lead
lg. How amiable are thy tsbernacles! l
ow sacred thy affairs. How glorious tt
~ auditoriums. So graceful so sspir- "
Ig, so grand, and rolling on and rolling W
p, we cry out in regard to her: "Who is it
lie that cometh out of the wilderness like IL
liars of smoker" ia
Men may desecrste it, as Cromwell tt
hen he stabbed his cavalry horses CT
st. Paul's Cathedral or break off the al
nsge of Christ, as did the iconocasts in pl
ork Minister; or hurl against it august n
.erary autipathies, as did Gibbon; or ea
OF its overthrow, as dc some in every b'
immunity whose pride and hate and de
.ucherY are reproved by the Ten Com bl
andments which it thuuders, and the 81
ermon or the Mount which it breaties. dt
ut it will stand as long as the earth ri
ends the same nninna and Unndar Do